


After

by 71tenseventeen



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-15 22:32:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15423066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/71tenseventeen/pseuds/71tenseventeen
Summary: Sid and Geno contemplate life after hockey.





	After

**Author's Note:**

> Written in an hour and my amazing beta, Alia, only had like 15 minutes to look this over so excuse any errors. 
> 
> Thanks to Alia and ljummen for cheering me on and encouraging me! 
> 
> And thanks to Senia for the amazing banner!

 

 

Sid has always loved Geno’s texts.

He will never admit it out loud but Geno creating the group chat was the whole reason he finally got his first smartphone. Though he rarely said much, he loved seeing all that chatter, even when they were chirping each other. Occasionally Geno would send pictures to the chat of random things—his cat Dixie, a funny looking tree and even a wayward Christmas decoration that had blown into his backyard.

Sid enjoyed the pictures the most, though it wasn’t until he commented, “adorable” on one of the many pictures of Dixie that Geno started texting him directly. After that it was just always something they did. Geno would send pictures of the places he traveled, selfies of himself trying every new thing he could during the off season. In turn, Sid sent pictures of his surroundings. Things like the lake behind his Nova Scotia house or fish he caught with Nate and Taylor out on the boat.

He honestly assumed that Geno texted like that with everyone until Flower was being nosy one afternoon and looking over Sid’s shoulder.

“What is that?”

“Hm? Just Dixie in the snow. You didn’t get it too?”

Flower peered closer. “No.” Then he grabbed the phone right out of Sid’s hand and started thumbing through the text history.

“Hey! Flower give it back!”

“What the hell? You and G have some sort of secret texting group? Look at all this!”

Sid grabbed his phone back and rolled his eyes. “Oh stop. He texts you too.”

“Yeah, like once a month. If that. And that’s usually only if he wants to make fun of me about something.”

“Oh.” Sid wasn’t sure what to do with that. Maybe Geno didn’t text everyone else like he did Sid, then. Maybe this was just something that was between them, their thing. The thought made Sid feel warm and he grinned at Flower. “I guess I’m just more interesting than you.” And then he ducked with a laugh when Flower grabbed at him.

It went on just like that over the years. Through off seasons and playoffs, milestones and cup wins, injuries and losses, Sid knew that he could always count on Geno.

Texts often dropped off after big losses, especially when they exited the playoffs and this season was no different. Sid had thought that with age and experience, the losses might get easier but it only gave him an increasing sense of urgency. He knew their time in the NHL was finite and it burned to miss out on chances at another cup.

Maybe that’s why it took him three weeks to realize he hadn’t gotten a single text from Geno. But then, it probably wasn’t anything to worry about. After all, Sid had been brooding and kind of miserable himself. He couldn’t blame Geno for needing some time and space.

But when another week passed and then another with no word, even when Sid sent a picture of a gorgeous sunset on the lake behind his Nova Scotia home, he knew something was wrong.

< _Are you okay?_ > He sent, skipping pictures altogether.

He was expecting no response so when Geno replied, < _Sorry Sid. Just have rough time. >_ Sid knew he needed to reach out.

So he called and, to his surprise, Geno answered and they talked. It was slow at first but then Geno was letting it all out and all of it, from his disappointment about the playoffs loss to his general worries about growing older and what his future held, all of it mirrored Sid’s thoughts almost exactly.

So they talked a long time that night and then the next day and before Sid knew it, they’d spoken every day for three weeks, sometimes several times a day and talking to Geno was the best part of Sid’s day, every day.

Gradually, they both felt better but the calls kept coming.

And then one night Geno called as Sid was climbing into bed. He smiled as he answered. “Hey G.”

“Sid.” And he didn’t sound happy.

Sid sat straight up. “What’s wrong?”

“Ah, just have rough night. Sorry to call like this.”

“Hey, no, it’s fine. I don’t mind. What’s going on?”

Geno sighed heavily. “I not completely sure, Sid. Just know this year loss hit harder. Frustrate about my knee, about season, about a lot of thing.”

“Yeah, I get that. I’ve felt like it was harder, too, but I don’t know why.”

“It just—it make me think about a lot of thing I not think about for a long time.”

“What do you mean?”

Geno hesitated and Sid didn’t want to pry. “If you don’t want to say, that’s okay. You don’t have to tell me anything.”

Geno sighed. “I’ll try.”

“Okay. I’ll listen and try to help if I can.”

“Be best captain? Captain of talk about feeling?”

Sid could hear the smile in Geno’s voice so he didn’t even call out the chirp. It was just a relief to hear him sound a little less stressed. “Yeah, yeah. So what’s going on, G?”

“Loss this time make me think a lot. Think about future, you know? Getting older, Sid. Keep thinking, what happen if I not get another chance? Where I be then?”

“Geno, no, you’re going to get another chance. There will be a lot more chances.”

“This year, knee hurt and it scare me little bit. Not like before. Before I rehab and come back, everything fine. This time I keep thinking, what if was worse. What if everything end for me in NHL, then what I have left?” He sounds so down, Sid’s chest aches.

“Geno…” But what could he say, really? Because he’d had the same thoughts himself. Not about the knee but about what would happen if it all ended. Where would he be then? So he clears his throat and says softly, “I think about that, too, sometimes.”

“Then I’m go home and Mama bug me about go out on dates and why I’m still alone and it just make everything worse.”

And yeah. Sid understood that, too. “Yeah,” he said.

“Everything just make me think about future and what I have left if I not have NHL. Is little bit scary.”

“Yeah, I get it, G.” Because he did get it. He really did.

“I don’t have plan, Sid. I don’t have person to be with, don’t have plan for life after NHL. Have nothing and don’t even want to think about it.”

“I feel the same way. Sometimes I try to make myself think about what I want, for then, for after hockey and some of it is clear, you know? But some of it is just...really hard.”

“What you want, Sid? When it all over?”

And Sid closes his eyes because this is getting so close to things he has sworn to never admit to Geno. “I guess… I guess I just want happiness. I guess I want to be with someone and just have a quiet happy life. And maybe coach little kids.”

“You think about want kids someday?”

“Yeah, of course I do but it’s not easy, you know?”

“Why not easy?”

“Come on, G. You know the answer to that.” Because there are a couple of fundamental things that Geno does know about him that a lot of other people don’t.

“Doesn’t mean you can’t have kids.”

“Maybe. What about you,” he says, desperate to change the subject to something that makes him ache less. “What do you want, if you really think about it?”

Geno takes a deep breath. “The thing is I…” He trails off.

“G?”

“Sid, problem I have is no matter how I think of future, it never match what everyone else expect. Mama, Papa, they think I marry Russian girl, settle down, maybe have kids. Maybe coach KHL.”

“And that’s not what you want?”

“No.”

“What do you want, G?”

“Want version of future I see in head.”

“And what is that?” Sid asks quietly because he knows Geno and he knows that they’ve reached the crux of whatever is bothering him.

“I realized every time I ever think about future, never imagine it without you in it. And now I think about that and I know, can’t be happy with future they want because future I want is with you. For so long, you always there and I’m not want to lose that.”

Sidney can’t breathe.

“Sid?”

“I…”

“I’m sorry if freak you out. I know I shouldn’t say but I just keep thinking, what if I don’t say now and regret for rest of my life?”

“Geno…”

“I’m professional, Sid. I will never let it get in way of—” But Sid cut him off.

“I want that too!”

The line went quiet for a moment and then Geno said quietly. “You do?”

“It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

“Sid,” he breathes. “Can live without NHL. Can’t live without you.”

They talk a long time into the night.

\--

The next morning Sid finally wakes up to a picture text again. It’s a simple shot of an airplane wing and Sid smiles, wondering where Geno is flying off to.

He sends back a simple, < _be safe_ > and heads off to practice.

By the time he’s getting ready for bed again, he still hasn’t heard from Geno and he wonders where he went to. He hopes he’ll hear from him soon.

Sid is just settling into bed when he gets a text and his face lights up because he knows it’s from Geno.

It’s another picture. A simple shot of a wooden front door and—

Sid drops the phone and yanks the covers back, scrambling out of bed. He races out of the room and down the stairs because he knows that door. He knows it very well.

And when he pulls it open Geno is waiting for him on the other side.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Written as part of a pic fic challenge with writer friends.


End file.
